How much should I try to negitiate when buying a new build house?

bombfrog

Unfortunately it won't be finished for another 5 or 6 weeks.

This also means that it'll miss Persimmon's year end so they won't be quite as keen to shift it.

Good point on the stamp duty

spud211

brit1234 wrote: »

Don't get a newbuild, they are overpriced, small dimensions, and poor quality.


Even if you get a price reduction your lenders survey will most likely say the price is overvalued.

Better buy a non newbuild.

Go and troll elsewhere please. Your comments are based on a mass generalisation and simply not true for a large number of cases.

I've just bought a newbuild and love it - only a few very minor snagging issues, the house was almost perfect (in much much better condition than an old house would be), has brilliant energy efficiency compared to an older house, is in an excellent location on a very small estate, and has good sized rooms.

Remember you will find tons of threads about the bad points, but only because people don't tend to post when something good happens (look at the % of threads on here - the vast majority are complaining or saying "help!", not "I had a great experience with X".

Yes in some areas you can end up paying a premium for a new build, but not everywhere, and usually that premium actually is just the amount of money (or usually less than) that you would have to spend to bring the old property up to the standard of the new one in terms of finish, energy efficiency, and fittings.

OP - this question has been asked hundreds of times, but the general answer is to treat it like any other house purchase, and go in at 10-20% under the asking, then see what they say..they can only say no. In reality you will probably end up with around 5-10% off and a bunch of extras thrown in to make up the effective difference, but it depends massively on build stage, area, developer and current interest from other buyers. Good luck!

F_T_Buyer

Well said Spud. People talk of new builds like old housing stock never have, or had, problems. I'm happy with mine, but you must do your homework.

Firstly, find the post code of the area (you may struggle) and then look on house prices .co.uk to see what others sold for. You could also be really cheeky and go ask someone who has moved in already.

bombfrog

F_T_Buyer wrote: »

Firstly, find the post code of the area (you may struggle) and then look on house prices .co.uk to see what others sold for. You could also be really cheeky and go ask someone who has moved in already.

Hmm, house prices in the area are generally lower, but the house we're looking at is the biggest on the development and they're only making 1 of them so It's difficult to judge.

If you compare it with other 4 bedroom houses in the area though (and ignore it's size) it's definitely around 50k overpriced.

BadgerFace_2

Persimmon will have loads of room for manoeuvre so long as you're not trying to PartEx your old house. They inflate the prices to cover the costs of this. They may give you carpets etc, but don't tell them you want this until your have a price, as they class carpets as being worth a good few £'000's, whereas in reality they'll cost them much much less. I'd have thought £50k would be achievable, BUT, if it's only one of that house style, they may hold out and it also depends on how well they're selling.

bombfrog

Well, I went down the sales office with mortgage offer and copy of bank balance to prove the deposit in hand.

I offered £249,999 which I knew they would turn down and it was. She said that they had already turned down an offer of £320k (which I very much doubt) so we were nowhere near.

However, she did insist on taking my phone number and did still try to sell me the house, going on about how it was priced at market value and how it was so much bigger than all the other houses I was comparing it to etc. She didn't really want us to just leave.

Anyway, I might wait another week and up the offer to about £270k. Not sure.

myhouse_2

I don't understand why the buyer has to go in with offers - it's the builders that are trying to sell the house - it's empty, waiting for someone to buy it and not making them any money. And there's a lot of choice out there.
Have you tried getting a price out of them (other than the probably inflated asking price).

pinkteapot

bombfrog wrote: »

Anyway, I might wait another week and up the offer to about £270k. Not sure.

I wouldn't jump straight up by that much... First thing you have to do is set the drop-dead price in your head. What is the maximum you'll pay? And it has to be an amount where, if it's not accepted, you'll be prepared to walk away. Then work your way towards it.

I wouldn't necessarily leave it as long as a week. I'd give her a few days to stew and then go up say £10k. Over the course of a week get up to your maximum and make it very clear it's your final offer. Then leave it. If you go back once a week she'll think you'll keep going back. Get it all done and then leave the final offer on the table for them. Up to them whether they take it. It's her job to get as much money as possible so of course she'll tell you about offers they've rejected etc. The only question is, what are you willing to pay for it?

bombfrog

I think we're prepared to pay up to £300k, which according to her is way below what they'll accept. If I only go up 10k at a time then I'll have to put in 5 offers and I think she'll just start thinking I'm going to come back every time. I like the idea of making a few offers and then leaving it though.

The other thing I'm going to try to do is go back and raise the offer when the other woman is there so I can see if I get a different response from her.

pinkteapot

Ah ok, yes if you're looking at going up £50k then do a big jump to start with then smaller jumps. Try and do a £295k followed by £300k so you can say "we've really stretched ourselves, this is our absolute limit, we're in a good position" etc.